Rise in older Aussies reporting sex abuse

MORE OLDER AUSTRALIANS ARE REPORTING CHILDHOOD SEX ABUSE FOR THE FIRST TIME. HERE ARE THE FIGURES:

The data is based on an analysis of 5000 callers in the past year to a 1300 professional support line run by Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA) - a leading national organisation supporting an estimated five million Australian adults who survived childhood trauma.

THE DATA SHOWS:

* Most common age group of survivors to seek support is 40-69 years old

* 10 per cent increase from last year in the 50-59 age group seeking support.

* 19 per cent of people in the 60-69 year age group and six per cent in the 70-79 age group reported abuse for the first time

* 74 per cent of callers were women

IMPACTS REPORTED:

* Reports of negative impacts to employment more than doubled

* 87 per cent reported mental health impacts

* 37 per cent reported physical health impacts

* 52 per cent reported impacts on relationships with their immediate family

* 37 per cent reported impacts on their partner

* 17 per cent on their parenting abilities

* 23 per cent on extended family

* 73 per cent of all callers reported multiple impacts

WHAT THE ANALYSIS MEANS:

* People are taking longer to report childhood sexual abuse than the 22 years estimated by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

* There is an urgent need for the federal government to lead the introduction of a national redress scheme, which would include health and psychological support for abuse survivors.